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Friday, December 17, 2010

With Great Power Comes...

This post is dedicated to my fellow artists. The graphic designers, painters, fashion designers, illustrators, technical artists, sculptors and any I've missed. We've all taken on the responsibilityof being an artist; even when our parents were disappointed they weren't going to get a doctor and when our boss made us take a pay cut because"artists are a dime a dozen". We pressed on with our passion because, like Peter Parker, we felt this is what we were born to do. But like Peter, sometimes we feel it's a curse.

Our work is never perfect and we get frustrated when we find ten other artists out there better than us. But I tell you this, don't strive for perfection. Strive for satisfaction. It is your responsibility as the artistyou have chosen to be, to use this gift to create and to share. Don't strive for perfection and compare yourself to others. Learn from others, be inspired by others, but find your own voice and connect with others. Make mistakes and learn from them and always remember that you arealwaysa student. You will never stop learning. It's then that you will become the artist you want to be. I wanted to say this to you because I've been connecting with many artists lately and I feel a depression falling over them. They feel they're not where they're supposed to be. But that is part of our growth and what we have to go through to be, not just a better artist, but a better person. Keep creating and keep striving. Youarean artist and that's a wonderful thing.

The Spidey illustration inspired this post simply because he's the hard-luck hero. The everyman. He was my hero as a 12 year old boy because he never quit and when he did he felt terrible and always came back stronger. We should do the same.

22 comments:

Dennis, This article is tremendous! This is the part of the movie that always stands out in my mind. "With great power comes great responsibility" I was speaking to a young lady who has just written a children's book. She was looking for an illustrator. She found a talented young man who told her that he would do her whole project for just $1200.00. She really likes his work and thought that he was asking for two much. He told her that he would do the cover and the 17 illustrations for that price. I have been doing children's books for a while now. Some folks don't have a clue cause they are not interested in having one. They just see the illustrations and they don't even think about the hours that go into it. I do understand the everyone is looking for a bargain, but you get what you pay for. The young illustrator told her that he wanted to keep all rights to the illustration and cover. She was upset about that. I asked her," Do you know what goes into the process of doing a children's book. Do you know that it takes up to a year to do one and that's with a publisher?" She didn't have a clue and I really didn't want to school her. Some folks want to dum down what we as character developer, animators, graphic artist and illustrators do. If we just give away this talent how ware we suppose to live? We have been given a very, very special gift. Everyone can't do what we do. We must be careful what we do with the is gift and how we share it. I know this long, but I totally agree with your article. It's great. I hope it will inspire other artist to put worth to what they do.Happy HolidaysVanessa

This is a beautiful post. It inspires not just artists, but so many others. We are not human doings, but are human beings. When we allow ourselves to just "be", there is a great peace we can latch on to. I love what you say that we should first satisfy ourselves. Thanks for sharing this great wisdom with us Dennis.

Wow! What a great post, and true, true, true! I also love Vanessa's story. Spidey was my hero as a boy and he is still my fav. Starting out as an artist I wanted to draw the Spiderman comic. I realized that quickly that doing comics wasn't my thing. Your illo is beautiful and I love the style of your spidey.

Loved this post! Wonderfully put and explained. And it came at such a great time for me, and I'm sure for others as well. Thank you for being such a light of inspiration and positivity! Keep up the awesome art and work and words!

AWESOME post my friend. It combines upbeat with the determined knowledge of hard-work. You are so right, I can only be the artist I'm supposed to be, and I can work from there.

This is a good reminder especially as I endeavor to combine creativity with commerce and there's been a bit of second-guessing (should I have done this or that, should I have sold it this way?) but you remind me that I can do what I do, and learn from it and move forward.

Great post. I remember I said to my parent that it was so hard for me to at F.I.T (The college i was in). Because everyone seem to be better then me. My parent told me I shouldn't be complain, I choose this path and I should just always pushing myself. Everyone has their unique talent and what they're good at.

People who don't know much about designing & illustrating, really think it's done in a flash and that we can do it just like that. All those little in between steps are forgotten and let's not forget the mental energy we put into creating our work.

I'm a perfectionist and I never thought that my art was good enough to sell. But over time I came to realize what I can do with my gift and how it can make people happy. The word perfect is so subjective and being perfect in what you do, isn't my main priotity. Like you said, I can only learn along my creative journey and get better. As long as I'm true to myself, I don't need to be perfect. The feeling that people get when they see my art, that's what matters to me the most.

Personally, with no art study done in the past, stepping into the illustration world can be very very scary, but I know that I want to do this as a living. Next to that, I have my own special way of how I create my art which can inspire others as well. So I just need to stick to it and ask the price what my illustrations deserve ^_^.

Nice. I will show this to my partner as he was just looking on deviantart and stating how much better everyone was. Whereis I think he is pretty darn talented and should stick at it as it's everyones differences that make their work so unique.

Tanoshiboy started off as a nickname but is now the design and illustration blog for Salvatier Studios. Here you can see new original sketches, works-in-progress, finished work, and read about creative inspiration and knowledge on branding and marketing. I started this blog to share my passion and experiences in design with fellow artists and those in need of design.

Contact me if you would like to talk about a project, or just say hello!